Brothers outline impact of sexual abuse

A Wicklow man is to be sentenced next year for raping and sexually assaulting two boys hundreds of times and for making them commit incest with each other.

The 51-year-old, who was their mother’s partner, also had his friend sexually abuse one of the boys and abused both of them in front of another male relative.

“I don’t know how many times [the accused] abused me, it seemed like millions of time,” one victim said.

“Some people had cereal for breakfast, I seemed to be molested for breakfast.”

The victims have said that they wish to waive their anonymity so that their abuser can be named publicly. However, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said the anonymity orders remain in place for now.

The man pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 165 counts of rape and sexual assault against one boy and 40 similar offences against his brother between 1993 and 2003 at his Wicklow home. During interviews with gardaí, he accepted that he was a “paedophile rapist” and described his offending as “shameful, horrendous, appalling, diabolical”.

Michael O’Higgins, defending, said his client wished to express his “deepest, sincere, and profound sorrow” to the victims. He said the man had himself been subjected to widespread and wholesale sexual abuse as a child, which he said had skewed the moral line that would normally be “naturally instilled” in a person growing up.

In powerful victim impact reports, the victims outlined the effects of the abuse. The elder victim, who is now aged in his 30s, said he has been left with no confidence in himself. His brother said he is living what can only be described as “hell on earth”.

The elder victim went to gardaí last year and told them he had been abused since the age of seven.

It began with the man masturbating the victim and having the child do the same to him. The man would do this every time he got the chance and it could occur up to three of four times a day. It became so frequent that the accused didn’t need to say anything — he would simply nod or gesture when he wanted to abuse the child.

He progressed to raping the boy anally and orally. At one point the boy decided to kill himself but stopped because he “didn’t want him to win”.

On one occasion he brought the boy to his friend’s house where both he and his friend molested him. The boy said he saw the accused smile at his friend during the abuse “as if to say ‘look what I can get him to do’.” On another date he abused both boys in front of another relative before having sex with the relative and telling the children that “this is how it’s done”. The elder victim told gardaí he always abused him when his mother was in the house.

“I think he used to get off on the thrill of nearly getting caught,” he said.

He said the man would have the two boys perform sexual acts on each other while he watched. The accused also told the elder boy he could get him money if he was willing for perform such acts with other men.

The man began abusing the younger victim from when he was seven years old. It started with masturbation and led to rape. He said he felt like he was abused “millions of times”. Sometimes the man would give him money and tell him to go play.

The accused was arrested last year and made admissions in interview but initially denied rape. He said the abuse started because he was having marriage difficulties and was not having sex with his wife.